A luxury house with an origami-style roof changed hands in June for $16 million, OneRoof can reveal.
The sale price for the award-winning house on Buchanan Rise, Treble Cone, in Wanaka, was brokered by New Zealand Sotheby’s International Realty agent Kylie Stewart and is a new record for the town.
Stewart could not reveal details of the buyers or sellers due to confidentiality agreements, but the deal eclipses the $11.86m paid last year for a lifestyle block on Eely Point Road. That property was marketed at developers and land-bankers but the Buchanan Road home is in a different class altogether.
Stewart said that the property was exactly what high-end clients - both local and international - were looking for.
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“They want to be around the lake, with lake and mountain views, and it must be modern, architecturally-designed. Depending on how much space they want, they will go more rural if they want bigger,” she said.
The four-bedroom Buchanan Rise home, which has an RV of just over $11m, was designed by Stevens Lawson Architects, and set in rolling, tussock-covered landscape of just over 20ha with lake and mountain views, 20 minutes from the centre of Wanaka.
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On their website, the architects said the house was built for clients who split their time between homes in Auckland and Wanaka.
“The outstanding natural environment required a sensitive approach to the design, with the local council imposing restrictions on the size and location of the building platform and the materials used,” their statement said.
The over 500sqm four-bedroom house won an NZIA and a Home magazine award in 2010 and 2011. Photo / Supplied
Sculptural built-in finishes fit the architects’ aim of a crafted build. Photo / Supplied
“The materiality of the building is earthy and textured with natural finishes but it is assembled with craft and precision.”
The cedar, concrete and schist four-bedroom house, spread over 510sqm, had a distinctive origami-style roof, and sculptural built-in features, skylight and sheltered courtyard, and included a dramatic stone-wrapped kitchen island as well as a butler’s pantry, two sunken lounges, fireplaces, five bathrooms and garaging for four cars.
It won the architects the 2010 Home of the Year award from Home magazine and New Zealand Institute of Architects national award in 2011.
Native planting on the property has been restored and there are board walks to a viewing platform and the lake shore. The home came with a consented mooring, rare in Wanaka.
The Buchanan Rise sale still falls short of the Queenstown and NZ record: $40m-plus paid for a trophy estate earlier this year in a deal brokered by agent Hamish Walker. Another trophy home, on 1.27ha in a gated community on Jacks Point, on Hidden Island Road, sold this year for just over $19m, well above its RV of $11.35m.
Stewart said that after a quiet year, the demand for houses in the upper price bracket was now very strong.
The house on Buchanan Rise was on the lake, with mountain views and its own consented mooring. Photo / Supplied
The kitchen featured a sculptural stone-trimmed island. Photo / Supplied
“We have tonnes of cashed-up buyers from all over New Zealand and internationally, as well as Kiwis moving home from overseas, a lot of referrals from our international offices,” she said, explaining that news of National’s proposed relaxation of foreign buyer bans had helped.
“We have heard from old clients who were looking to purchase prior to the change [in 2018], they’re back looking, definitely on the hunt again. We’ve had a real influx from North America and Europe - not so much from China, though."
She added: “I would have five to 10 buyers with more than $10m to spend, if I had the stock.”
Stewart said there was a real shortage of luxury stock in Wanaka, driven from an equal shortage in Queenstown.
“The two markets seem to be merging. We need more luxury stock from $7m to $15m.”
Julian Brown, New Zealand Sotheby’s International Realty managing director, agreed, noting that markets in both Queenstown and Wanaka have room to grow.
The courtyard at Buchanan Rise with views of the native gardens, boardwalks and lake. Photo / Supplied
A six-bedroom alpine-style 740sqm lodge built to European sustainability standards is for sale on 8 Foxglove Heights in Wanaka’s Far Horizon Park. Photo / Supplied
“They’re two quite different markets – Queenstown is larger and more commercial, while Wanaka has a smaller population base, but has a lot of potential to grow,” he said. “Having the two centres widens the pool for buyers.”
Stewart points to an exceptional listing for the area: a new-build alpine-style 740sqm lodge with six bedrooms, seven bathrooms built to European sustainability standards, with its own solar power at 8 Foxglove Heights. It has its own wellness hub with a spa, sauna and steam room, and a separate guest wing with a gym, plus a ski storage area.
While she could not reveal the price expectations for the property, which is aimed at the top-end buyers, she had earlier told OneRoof it was expected to break sale price records.
And while a few owners are selling to downsize to a smaller luxury home, she said there was still a shortage of $5m to $7m properties too.
Stewart is also selling a pair of houses set on over 8000sqm amongst the vineyards at 7 and 9 Elderberry Crescent, Wanaka, which are part of the Far Horizons Park. With an asking price of $8.5m, the homes – one of three bedrooms, the other four are rented as the Two Buckets on Airbnb, with one cottage asking $500 a night in the shoulder season.
New Zealand Sotheby’s International’s sales manager for Wanaka, Henry Cochrane, said that while some owners were holding out for higher prices for their places, there was a good balance between buyers and sellers.
“Prices here in Queenstown and Wanaka have become international, because of the desirability of the mountains and the lakes. We definitely will see more of those international buyers after the election.”
OneRoof records show just under 300 listings for homes in the Wanaka area, 23 of them for over $5m, but Stewart said there would be more. “People are thinking of selling their places off-market, but I’d not do that. They really do need to do the campaign and we will find more buyers,” she said.
- Click here to see more properties for sale in Wanaka
